A Man of Influence
"A Man of Influence" is the 13th level in Monolith's Game of the Year The Operative: No One Lives Forever. It is the seventh mission of the game and consists of three scenes. Briefing It is possible that the reclusive Baron Archibald Dumas is somehow connected to the disappearance of Dr. Schenker. It will be up to you and Agent Goodman to establish the link, if it even exists. The first step is to meet the Baron in person and size him up. Whatever you do, don't blow your cover. Plot Summary Scene 1 :8:30am, September 20 :Offices of Dumas Industrial Enterprises, Bumberton, England Cate Archer and Tom Goodman attempt to gain access to the Baron's private office by persuading the receptionist at the front desk that they have an appointment. When the receptionist glances at the Baron's schedule book, Archer covertly slips laxatives into the receptionist's cup of coffee, prompting her to run to the loo. After a brief argument with Goodman and a deciding coin toss, Archer snoops around the offices in search of evidence while carefully avoiding detection. Having disabled the alarm and camera system, she finds a hidden area behind a bookshelf in the Baron's private office. The stairs lead to a small penthouse in which she discovers a model version of a nearby compound. Having acquired this information, Archer returns to the front desk just in time before the receptionist comes back. They resolve to reschedule for a new appointment after which the receptionist rushes off to the bathroom for a second time. Scene 2 Archer and Goodman arrive at the Dumas Industrial Enterprises compound. After another argument on who should investigate (and another coin toss), Goodman helps Archer to sneak inside. She photographs various ledgers scattered around the facility while remaining undetected. On her way out, she spots Magnus Armstrong thus providing a decisive indicator to the affiliation with H.A.R.M. Archer reports to Mr. Jones via pay-phone and gets the go-ahead to interview the Baron in his private residence. Scene 3 :One Hour Later... :Residence of Baron Archibald Dumas Following yet another coin toss to decide "who's going in", Archer proceeds to the Baron's front door. She introduces herself as a reporter named Mia Haig who would like to interview the Baron for "Men of Influence" magazine. After successfully persuading the butler, Archer is shown into the drawing room where she encounters the Baron and gets a brief glance at his grumpy wife who was just leaving. Archer proceeds to interview the Baron by asking him a set of eight questions. The player is given a choice which questions to ask, either in the direction of the Baron's occupation or with regard to his safari adventures (he clearly prefers the latter). It soon becomes clear that this man is not a very bright person and appears to lack any experience in business and big-game hunting, in which he is supposedly an expert. Depending on how many "good" questions are asked, the Baron will be more forthcoming with extra information at the end of the interview. In either case, he mentions a safe which contains "you know... paperwork". Archer then concludes her interview and takes her leave. Memorable quotes "You like The Beatles?" "Sure." "I wish they'd go on tour again." "Don't hold your breath." "Well, as long as they keep making records, I'm happy. I just hope they don't break up." :Dumas Industrial Enterprises Guards References Africa • AK-47 • Ammo box • Audrey Hepburn • Backgammon • Badger • Bandaids • Bangkok • Baron Dumas • Baroness Dumas • Bengal • Beowulf • Body Armor • Body Remover • Brian Long • Bristol • Bumberton • Cape Buffalo • Car • Cate Archer • Centipede • China • Chinese • Chipmunk • Cigarette Lighter • Coffee • Cow • Diana Rigg • Dinosaur • Dog • Dragon • Dumas Industrial Enterprises • Dumas Towers • Elephant • England • Episcopal Church • Ernest Hemingway • Evelyn • Fiddler Crab • Fishing • Flora • Fox • Fran • France • Fyodor Dostoyevsky • Gazelle • Giant Panda • Giles • Golf • Gorilla • Grendel • Hampton Carbine • H.A.R.M. • Herman Melville • Hilltop • Hoyt Bob's Skunk Farm • Hunting • Infrared Beam • Jim's House of Exotic Animals • John Mulkey • Johnny • Kenya • Kinkajou • Kozmo Photo Catalog of Animals • Lemur • Lion • Lloyd the Tailor • Lock • London • Longo • Madagascar • Magnus Armstrong • Maid • Manning • Matterhorn Model 4 Special • Melanie • Men of Influence • Monolith Productions • Mr. Jones • Mulkey J • Nairobi • New York • Otto Schenker • P-421 Canine Persuader • Pablo Picasso • Pakistan • Paris • Partridge • Petri .38 Airweight Revolver • Poison Gas • Poland • Rat • Rhodesia • Rhinoceros • Roman Holiday • Safe • Security Camera • Shepherd Arms 9mm • Skeet shooting • Spider • Spy-Glasses • Stun Gas • Tape Recorder • Tasty Cola • Telephone • Thailand • Thief • The Beatles • Tiger • Tokyo • Tom Goodman • Train • Truck • Venus • Warsaw • Wrench • Zebra Trivia * This marks the first mission of the game to be set in the United Kingdom, where UNITY has its headquarters * The receptionist describes the Baron's routine as being "quite established" in which he reserves Mondays for Golf, Tuesdays and Thursdays for Skeet shooting, Wednesdays for Fishing and Friday afternoons for Backgammon. Friday mornings from 11 to 11:15am is the only time slot reserved for business matters. September 20, 1967 was a Wednesday. Thus when Archer and Goodman arrived at the office of Baron Dumas, he would have been fishing. * When using the Cigarette Lighter on the bin in the restroom, the guard from the security office immediately leaves his post to quench the flames. He then remains in this room for the entire duration of the scene without returning to his post. * In Scene 1, getting spotted by the staff will cause them to immediately run for the alarm button. If a worker is shot or attacked, the mission is failed due to "Unacceptable Civilian Casualties". If a security guard is shot, the alarm goes off immediately and Cate's cover is blown. * There are several conversations between staff and guards in the first two scenes that contribute to the "office scenario" of the mission's first scene: Two scientists argue about methodology, a worker spends all her time on the phone while her colleague "eavesdrops" from the canteen, and an executive asks his secretary to ring a colleague for him. * At the Baron's penthouse, two guards can be overheard talking about The Beatles where one of them expresses his hope that they don't break up... * The compound in Scene 2, contains several chemical containers which strongly resemble those found on the Finnish Cargo Freighter from A Tenuous Lead. * Two employees of Dumas Industrial Enterprises are overheard talking about an episode of the British espionage adventure TV series, "The Avengers" entitled From Venus with Love. Archer observed them talking about Diana Rigg. * If the player takes too long standing on the moving train within the compound, a cut scene will commence in which a red line, probably representing the train, approaches several different cities on a world map. This is a reference to the Indiana Jones films where a similar gag is used. The cut scene lasts for only a few seconds and the player is allowed to continue the mission without having to reload the game. * The Encrypted file: "pmlxp vn lfg gsv ylc ofpv" translates to "Knock em out the box Luke". It is a reference to the Star Wars Gansta Rap that was released in 2000. https://starwarsfans.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Gangsta_Rap The video can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp-Ys_iFwnM * If the wrong responses are selected when Archer is speaking to the butler, the mission will end abruptly with a message stating, "You've failed to interview Baron Dumas!" This is the only time in the series that a mission is failed through means other than dying or having your cover blown. * This marks the first appearances of Baron and Baroness Dumas. * The Baron is in-fact very lazy, childish and stupid as revealed by his obliviousness to all of Cate's rather obvious questions. His safari lifestyle is also revealed to be somewhat of a scam as he has clearly never been hunting in his life. Last but not least, his surname "Dumas" is might be a clever play-on-words of what the Baron's main quality: that of a dumbass. Category: Missions Category:The Operative: No One Lives Forever Missions